NEW YORK (AP) — Nathan Fillion is proud of his roots, and that includes the sometimes melodramatic, unrealistic and underrated world of soap operas.

Fillion played Joey Buchanan on ABC's "One Life To Live" from 1994 to 1997. He's since moved on to such shows as "Firefly," ''Desperate Housewives" and now stars in ABC's detective comedy "Castle," airing Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT.

But the 37-year-old says his soap opera work was the most challenging.

"I logged more on camera hours in my first three years of my career on 'One Life to Live' than I have in the rest of my career put together. That is the most intense, the absolute fastest, working experience for an actor you can possibly imagine ... it trained me how to be technically proficient. The training I received prepared me for everything I've done since."

And he credits soaps for helping his memory. The actors film an episode a day, as compared to eight days to shoot one episode of "Castle." That's a lot of lines to remember.

"You'd get to the last part of the day and they'd be like, 'OK, cut this line, this line, everything on this page, this line's cut, do you need a rehearsal?' And you just look at it and say, ...'Got it. Let's go. Let's move.' It was that strong a muscle by the end of three years."

By ALICIA RANCILIO
Associated Press Writer

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